1. Field of the Invention
The invention described in this specification relates to a powder agglomerator for use with extremely fine dust particles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The deposition of powdered materials upon a rotating surface at the same time a spray of water is being applied is old in the art as evidenced by the two U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,860,598 and 3,206,528 to Ernst G. Loesche and J. A. Combs et al., respectively. These patents describe pelletizing devices which produce relatively larger spheres than our agglomerator and provide for longer retention times for a given level of material processing per unit time. Basically, our invention is an improvement over such pelletizers and their methods of use in which extremely fine particles are involved i.e., those particles having diameters under 0.01 of an inch and usually in the 0.006 inch range. When such fine particles are involved in large quantities rather than just expel them to the ambient atmosphere, as occured before the advent of efficient pollution abatement systems, it is desirable to transport them at minimum cost to different locations for disposal or further processing. In transporting these fine particles to a new location conventional material handling techniques have not proven satisfactory because of the physical nature and size of many particles. For example, if a tubular conduit with an air stream is used as the transporting medium in a mass operation, many particles in large quantities will act like fibrous materials and adhere to the tubular walls and themselved to clog the conveyor. To prevent this from happening it has been suggested that agglomerating the particles to transport them is preferable. However, the prior art revealed no inexpensive and efficient method and apparatus to accomplish the desired agglomeration of extremely fine particles on a mass basis. Our invention seeks to overcome these deficiencies as set forth hereinafter.